Cocktail Thyme

By Raul Faria

Cocktail Thyme was created for Chef Scott Conant’s restaurant Scarpetta inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino. It features Absolut Craft Smokey Tea and Campari along with a honey and lemon to create an Aperitif style Sour. I wanted to play off the freshness and savory herbs that are utilized in authentic Italian food, which is where Chef draws his inspiration. Ready to make a dry sour with tons of fun herbal notes?

2) We can begin by adding .5 oz of Egg white to the mixing glass portion of the Boston Shaker.

3) Next up let’s add our .75 oz lemon juice. You can either slice the lemon and utilize the citrus press to squeeze directly into the jigger or you can double-strain the juice into a separate container and save for later use.

4) Now we can add or .75 oz of honey syrup. This is super simple and is basically adding 2-1 honey to water and stirring. Viola! Honey syrup.

5) Let’s add .25 oz Campari. Campari is an appertif and is typically enjoyed before meals in Italy. It is also the key ingredient in my favorite cocktail, the Negroni. We’ve used it before at Mixology Made Simple in cocktails like the Mango Tamarindo and the Brockton Cocktail. It has a distinct bitter orange flavor that is great to add herbal notes and complexity to cocktails.

6) Time to add the star of the show, 1.5 oz of Absolut Craft Smokey Tea. With notes of smoke and savory herbs, Absolut Craft Smokey Tea tastes almost like a barrel aged gin without the juniper. The Absolut Craft line is a partnership with Bartender and Mad Scientist Nick Strangeway to create something for the craft market. They wanted to let Nick push the envelope in terms of flavor and he did. With flavors like Bitter Cherry, Herbaceous Lemon and Smokey Tea, Nick created unique combinations never seen in the vodka world. The flavors were complex and intriguing and quickly became a sought after bottle and is now sometimes difficult to find. What is out there will be it, so it is truly a limited run. If you can’t find smokey Tea you can substitute Absolut Wild Tea and add a couple drops of Islay Scotch like Laphroiag or Lagavulin.

7) Next we will do a dry shake. This helps emulsify the egg whites and will assist in creating the desired texture plus produce a good foam on top of the cocktail. Simply shake without ice.

8) Let’s go ahead and add our ice to the glass along with 5-6 sprigs of thyme.

9) Shake and double-strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.

10) Garnish with an expressed orange peel and a thyme sprig. Discard the orange peel.